“By naming us as his image bearers, God has made a relationship with himself the strategic center of his purpose for humanity and for the world. Knowing God is as vital to us as the air we breathe. The image bearer’s relationship with God is our north star, the reference point from which we begin to understand everything else—including ourselves.

[This] places us at the center of what God is doing in the world—not as spectators, but as kingdom agents and as leaders with responsibility for what is happening around us. … Suddenly our mundane and often behind-the- scenes lives are invested with cosmic significance, for we are God’s eyes and ears, his hands and feet, his voice in this world.”